GM’s OnStar Guardian App Uses Your Smartphone to Detect, Report a Crash

Now that states across the country are lifting their coronavirus shelter-at-home orders, is it safe to begin going out and about? The answer isn’t clear, but GM says its new OnStar Guardian app provides additional information to help keep you and your family members safer while on the go.

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The app functions like a mobile version of the OnStar safety and communication system. GM says that a member with an active service plan and up to seven members of their family or friends can access a variety of OnStar’s services from their phones, regardless of their vehicle-brand ownership. 

It gives users access to certain OnStar safety services, such as mobile crash response and location status. In the former, GM says the app will use your smartphone sensors to detect a crash and alert an OnStar adviser, who will call first responders to the scene. Only Android users will be connected to an OnStar advisor automatically, however.

The location status, meanwhile, allows OnStar members and those in the chosen group to share their location, delivering some peace of mind in situations like walks home after dark, a ride-share trip or when a child is riding in a friend’s car. Other Guardian services include roadside assistance and emergency-services connection.

“OnStar Guardian reimagines what it means to have OnStar protection — it’s no longer a technology that is solely tied to the vehicle. This app helps OnStar members and their loved ones be safe out there using the power of OnStar, no matter what vehicle they are in,” Jeff Haase, head of OnStar Guardian GM Global Innovation, said in a statement.

The service is available in the U.S. and Canada, and is free for the next six months if OnStar members redeem the offer by July 31. OnStar did not immediately release pricing beyond the six-month trial. Go here for more information.

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